THe Other Side of the Coin
by greeneyedAlice91
Summary: in Dennis's PoV. a look at what happened in Your Hand in Mine from Dennis's eyes. as always for ShiloCoulter.


**Dennis's POV**

I could feel Shilo's alarm as we raced to catch a cab and I knew there was really nothing I could do. She was a whirlwind when she was like this; powerful but beautiful. The cab couldn't go fast enough for her it seemed as I watched her bang on the glass partition between the backseat and the driver, yelling that is was a life or death situation. Finally, after what seemed like years, the cabbie came to screeching halt outside of Dana's apartment. Shilo threw the driver the money for the ride and dashed up to her sister's apartment. Flashing the cabbie an apologetic look I got out and followed her. I entered the apartment just as Shilo tore around the corner heading to her sister's bedroom and bathroom. Surveying the spotless kitchen, I was pacing up and down the apartment when I heard the scream.

It was a scream like that of someone who has discovered something they weren't expecting. Time seemed to slow down and speed up at the same time. One minute I'm in the living room and the next I'm standing in the doorway of the bathroom watching a macabre scene unfold. There, on the white tiled floor splashed red, lay Dana, slices and cuts adorning her pale skin, cradled in Shilo's shaking bloody arms. I made a move to go forward and 'wake' my beloved from her trance of shock and grief when her gaze snapped from the body of her sister to the knife still clutched in her cold hand. 'No!' I thought, I might have said it aloud but I don't remember. I stood mesmerized as she was by the gleam of steel arching through the space above Shilo's arm. Then the knife bit into her sweet tender skin and I'm sure I cried out again and this time I felt myself moved forward until I was kneeling beside her, reaching out to her.

Then I was prying the blade away from her white knuckled grip as I tried to find something to stop the bleeding. Finally I grabbed a hand towel and wrapping it tight about her self-inflicted wound, pressed down until I was sure the blood had ceased to flow. Numb I stared into Shilo's icy blue eyes, a ring of brown around the right iris, so faint you almost wouldn't notice it. Then my focus came back to me and I released her arm and raced to the nearest phone quickly dialing 911. While we, or rather I as Shilo had spaced out, waited for the paramedics, I tried to clean up the bathroom tiles. The steady drip of liquid, an odd mix of blood and whatever was used to dilute it or wash it away, was the only sound heard in the otherwise silent bathroom. 

The paramedics seemed to take years to arrive but once they did I was pushed out of the way, which was fine by me. I bristled, however, when they said I couldn't ride in the ambulance with my beloved because I wasn't family. Couldn't they see that I was the only family she had now? The ER was like a beehive, orderlies running here and there to do the doctors bidding, nurses thrusting clipboards to waiting patients demanding they fill out things they could do in their sleep by now. I stood in the middle of it all, watching the insanity with a feeling in my gut I couldn't place. An old woman brushed past me and I saw her sweet, quietly life with her husband who had just passed away. It filled me with a measure of contentment that ruptured my cloud of gloom and worry. But then a sulky teenager clipped my other side and I felt their pain, oh tremendous pain! They were all alone in the midst of the crowd and they had no one to turn to. I bowed my head for a life I knew would soon end, for I saw how many times they had tried and failed, soon though they would succeed.

Then I heard someone call my name. Looking up I saw the doctor assigned to Shilo and I stepped forward. Five minutes later I had a hold of my girl's arm and was charged with strict instructions to monitor her 24/7. I assured him I would and we left with thoughts of the funeral to come plaguing us both.

The funeral passed in a blur of awkward condolences and stretches of silence. Shilo was listless, a zombie in a black dress. I had not one idea how to help her so I just stood by and watched her self-destruct without saying a word. The day we got around to clean out Dana's apartment was the day we found out the truth, it was also the day I first truly touched a woman. We had cleaned everything but the bedroom. The lust was building within me and I hoped it found an outlet soon. The bedroom was a bit messy, in a liked in way, the bed though was rumpled and the covers tossed this way and that, as if the occupant didn't had a good night's sleep. The bed looking inviting and I kissed Shilo, my tongue tracing the entrance of her lips and I reveled in the lack of memories as I plundered her mouth. The minute my knees hit the edge of the bed we fell onto it.

My hands tangled in her hair and I grasped it as my body moved against hers. It was a song of passion, one as old s time itself, a mating of true soul mates. Slowly, oh so slowly, I removed every piece of her clothing, planting kisses along the exposed skin. My hands shook as I mapped out every valley and swell of her body. I had never willing touched a girl's body before and I was in awe of the magnificence of it. Her soft blue eyes, so full of love looked at me as she undressed me, repeating my actions. Her slim fingers trailed and danced over my skin and I groaned with the sweet pleasure of that innocent exploration. Soft open-mouthed kisses were dropped on my skin, shining with sweat. As she rose up again I captured her lips as her legs wound around my waist and my hard member was poised at her hot entrance. I moaned into her mouth as I slid into her, thrusting my hips against hers. I licked and nipped her skin, whatever skin I could reach and I shuddered as her walls tightened around me and she screamed my name. a moment later I followed her over the edge and into bliss.

Later lying in bed she remembered the desk and thus found the letter. It gave her some purpose; I knew that, so I watched one morning as she packed for England and tried not to say how much I'd miss he. I knew she had to do this, had to reconnect with this long lost person It was the only way fo0r her to heal.

After she came back everything was fine until one rainy night. She had been out for a few hours and I knew exactly what she was doing. So why was I shocked when she came home flecked with blood and the first words out of her mouth were "I've done something bad…"? Then, as I got her a towel and dried her off she spun a story of horror and regret. She had been walking down the road, on the hunt and she had seen a man corralling a woman into a dark alley. She jumped at the chance and rushed the man, killing him. She never noticed the woman screaming the man's name until a flash of gold caught her eye. She had just killed this woman's husband because she assumed that, a rowdy couple was a rape in progress. Now she was shaking and I knew I had to do something. Quickly I devised a plan, she was in contact with her father so why now do to him and have him 'train' her? It's not like we had a life in this town anyway, plus that would give them more bonding time.

I explained my idea to Shilo and she readily agreed but made an amend to my plan. If she was 'training' anywhere it would be somewhere near her Uncle Hoarce which meant her father would have to cross the pond and come here. That being settled we set out on our trip to retrieve her father and then start our new beginning. And with a woman like Shilo Benton by my side, what a beginning it would be.

**AN: Music used as inspiration: **

**Fresh Pair of Eyes by Brooke Waggoner**

**Bloodstream by Stateless**

**In Your Arms by Kina Grannis (used for the love scene)**


End file.
